Chapter 14 Celia Valiente, Luis Ramiro and Laura Morales

Introduction

In Western countries, the gender gap in political representation has been the object of increased attention by scholars, politicians and the public. In response to a growing expectation that women should be more fully represented in political life, some political parties have adopted internal mechanisms to increase the presence of women among the parliamentarian elite. In other instances, countries reformed their electoral laws in order to feminize the political elite. Spain is no exception to this pattern. Some Spanish parties have gender quotas and some legislative attempts to modify the electoral laws have been discussed (and up to now defeated) at the national and regional level. 1 The aim of this chapter is three-fold: to test whether Spanish women are discriminated against while trying to enter the parliamentary elite, to examine demand-side explanations that maintain that women as a group do not have enough resources to obtain an egalitarian representation in elected institutions, and to study the differences (if any) between female and male members of the lower chamber of the Spanish parliament (the Chamber of Deputies, Congreso de los Diputados) with respect to their socio-economic characteristics and their parliamentary work. In assessing these three aspects of the elective process, we mainly analyse two types of empirical data: lists of candidates in the 2000 general elections; and information on female and male deputies in the 2000-2004 legislative term. First, we offer a general overview of the Spanish political system and the situation and evolution of women's role in politics in Spain, and more specifically of female members of the Spanish parliament (MPs). Second, we review the (scant) literature on the under-representation of Spanish women in Parliament. Third, we use empirical data to test some demand-side and supply-side explanatory factors of women's unequal parliamentary representation in Spain. More concretely, we study whether it is possible to affirm that women are discriminated against while trying to become deputies; the potential impact of the size of the electoral district on women's chances to become MPs; and whether the lower education level of women (as a group) is an obstacle for them to be parliamentarians. Finally, we analyse the differences (if any) between female and male Spanish deputies concerning their socio-economic characteristics and their parliamentary work. 190 Sharing Power Spain 191

Politics and Women, and the Feminine Association for Civic Education (AFEC), and with a burst of public suffragist demonstrations in the streets seeking the vote for women From 1939 to 1975 Spain was governed by a right-wing authoritarian regime (Fagoga, 1985, p.153). headed by General Franco. The current political system was formed during the During the Second Republic women entered parliament and held political office: transition to democracy initiated in 1975. This transition was characterized by the thirteen women were elected as deputies in each of the three legislative terms, negotiation between reformist political forces from the dictatorship and the representing both left- and right-wing parties and another, the anarchist Federica democratic opposition. The transition was formally symbolised by the public Montseny, briefly served as a Minister of Public Health during the Civil War, thus adoption of a democratic constitution in 1978. The King is the head of state but becoming the ftrst ever woman Minister. Unfortunately, women's political rights with few formal powers. Parliament is composed of two chambers: the lower were to be short-lived. Women's right to participate in politics in Spain ended with chamber, the , and the upper chamber, the Senate. Members the Civil War, fought between 1936 and 1939. Many women in the Republican of the Congress of Deputies are elected by proportional representation under the zone joined the armed forces until the Republican government prohibited them D'Hondt system with closed lists. The 52 constituencies, based on provincial from ftghting at the front. After the end of the war, the dictatorship of General boundaries, vary in size from one to 34 members and return a total of 350 Franco attempted to send women back to the home and reinforced traditional : parliamentarians to the lower house. There is a three per cent minimum threshold gender roles in the family, society and politics. The only role women could for representation at the electoral district level. These characteristics of the exercise in the public sphere during the authoritarian regime was linked to the electoral system imply that electoral results tend to favour big parties and parties activities of the Women's Branch of the single official party, the Seccion with geographically concentrated support. Femenina, which was responsible for the political indoctrination of women and the The Spanish political party system is a limited multi-party system with a low socialization of women in traditional roles (cooking, sewing, religious faith and level of ideological polarisation (Linz and Montero, 1999). In general, three nation- practice) and charitable activities. However, some women continued to participate wide political parties attract the majority of popular support, the centre-right in politics within the underground organisations of the opposition political p.arties Popular Party (Partido Popular, PP), the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido and illegal trade unions, and the modem feminist movement ftrst appeared m the Socialista Obrero Espanol, PSOE) and United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU). Three late 1960s, although it only really developed in organizational terms in the mid- regional parties play a pivotal role in forming parliamentary majorities, the Catalan 1970s (Scanlon, 1990, Threlfall, 1996). centre-right coalition Convergence and Union (Convergencia i Unio, Ciu), the With the new 1978 constitution most but not all of the discriminatory laws center-right Nationalist Basque Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV) and the introduced during the dictatorship were abolished and the constitution granted smaller Canary centre-right coalition Canary Coalition (Coalicion Canaria, CC). equal rights for men and women and full citizenship for the latter. With the During the 1993-96 and 1996-2000 parliamentary terms the regional parties Ciu, restoration of democracy the presence of women began to increase in Parliament, CC and PNV supported the respective PSOE and PP minority governments. The public offtce-holding, and the political parties and trade unions (Instituto de la Ciu, the CC and the PNV have governed their respective regions for a long time. Mujer, 2003; Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2002). With regard to the Congress ~f In post-authoritarian Spain a process of devolution of powers to the regions has Deputies, the proportion of female MPs rose throughout the whole democratIc produced a quasi-federal state. period, from six per cent in 1977 to 36 per cent in 2004. After the 2004 elections, For a short period between 1931 and the mid-1930s Spain was for the ftrst time the PSOE had the highest representation of female parliamentarians (46 per cent), in its history governed by a democratic regime, known as the Second Republic. followed by the PNV (29 per cent), the ill-IC (40 per cent), the PP (28 per cent), The Spanish Republican Constitution of 1931 was the ftrst to establish the equal PNV (14 per cent) and the Ciu (10 per cent). The percentage of women in the right of men and women to vote and to be elected in national elections (Montero, parliamentary groups of PP, PSOE, ill, CiU, and PNV has generally increased in 1996), after a vivid and historical parliamentary debate that took place between the the last three decades, and especially since 1989. This increase has been continuous Radical deputy Clara Campoamor - in favour of female - and the Radical- in the cases of the PP and PSOE, and it has experienced some periodic reversions Socialist deputy who opposed it for tactical reasons. Before that, the in the cases of ill, CiU and PNV due to their smaller parliamentary seat share suffrage movement in Spain had been rather weak in organisational terms, but had (Table 14.1). In the Senate, the proportion of women has always been slightly gradually introduced the issue of female suffrage into public debate. The ftrst lower than in the Congress of Deputies, and women senators held 25 per cent of public vindication of female suffrage took place in 1854 (Fagoaga, 1985, 44ft) and the seats in the 2004-2008 Senate. In the 17 regional parliaments women have it was not until 1883 that the ftrst signs of suffragist collective action emerged gradually increased their presence from an average of six per cent in 1983 to an (Fagoaga, 1985, 74ft). Nevertheless, during the 1920s the Spanish suffrage average of 32 per cent in 2003 (Threlfall, 1996; Montero, 1996; Instituto de la movement organised more effectively around their claims for voting rights, with Mujer, 2003), and reached 53 per cent in the regional parliament of Castilla-La the creation of several organisations such as the Spanish Women National Mancha in the regional elections of May 2003. Association (ANME), the Women Union of Spain (UME), the Crusade of Spanish 192 Sharing Power Spain 193

Table 14.1 Women MPs in Spanish Lower Chamber (%),1977-2004 1996, pp.270-2). Through these years, however, the feminist movement pursued an ambitious agenda that went far beyond issues of women's presence in politics. In Election Total PSOE AP-PP PCE-IU CiD PNV the 1970s and through the 1980s, among the goals pursued were equality before the 1977 6 8 6 15 0 0 law, reproductive rights such as decriminalisation of the selling and advertising of 1979 5 4 11 9 11 0 contraceptives (achieved in 1978), a divorce law (obtained in 1981), legalisation of 1982 5 7 1 0 0 12 abortion (partially achieved in 1985), criminalisation of sexual violence, and equal 1986 7 7 6 0 6 0 employment policies. Since then, as many of the most pressing legal changes 1989 14 17 9 12 6 0 (divorce, contraception, violence) have been achieved, the issue of representation 1993 16 18 15 22 6 0 has taken up more of the agenda. Moreover, because the Spanish feminist 1996 22 28 14 33 25 20 movement in general has involved women within left-wing parties, it is not 2000 28 37 25 25 13 29 surprising that they have come to focus on matters of access to elected office, both 2004 36 46 28 40 10 14 within their parties and more generally (Jenson and Valiente, 2003). The Spanish feminist movement continues its campaigns on the increase of the presence of Source: Authors' calculation from data in www.congreso.es. Percentages based on the women in institutions (the so-called objective of 'parity democracy'). However, the number of women originally elected as MPs at the beginning of the term. success of this mobilisation will in part depend on party and electoral dynamics, many ofthem beyond the control of the women's movement. In addition to their representation in elective office, women are gradually finding their way into governmental office. By May 2004, 25 women had been appointed ministers. The first woman minister was Soledad Becerril, appointed in December Obstacles to Women's Political Participation in Spain 1981 with the centrist government ofDCD headed by Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. She was in charge of the Ministry of Culture and remained in government for one year. In comparison with research on female MPs undertaken in other advanced The next women to be appointed ministers were the Socialists Matilde Fernandez industrial countries, studies on Spanish women parliamentarians are still in an and Rosa Conde, Minister for Social Affairs and Government Spokesperson embryonic stage. Generally spealcing, studies that explain how and why women respectively, both of whom took office in 1988, six years after the first women reach political decision-making positions are less available in Spain than minister had left office. The twelve Socialist governments (PSOE) in office quantitative reports which map the modest presence of women in those positions. between 1982 and 1996 included a total of five female ministers and a maximum Due to the dearth of these studies, we can only offer some provisional conclusions. of three in a single cabinet, and they were responsible for the Ministries of Social Since Spanish political parties are gatekeepers to legislative positions of power, Affairs, Government Spokesperson, Culture, and Health and Consumption. The research on legislative recruitment is intrinsically linked to the analysis of party governments of the Popular Party (Partido Popular) between 1996 and 2004 have candidate selection (Uriarte, 1997, p.58), with explanations emphasising the appointed a total of eleven female ministers and a maximum of five in a single demand-side factors influencing female political participation (for example, Garcia cabinet. These female ministers have headed the Ministries of Justice; Agriculture, de Le6n, 1994). In Spain, the number of women on electoral lists has been Fisheries and Food; the Environment; Education and Culture; Health and increasing over the last few decades in the majority of political parties. Consumption; Science and Technology; Public Administration, and Foreign Nevertheless, women seldom occupy the leading positions on these lists (Ortiz, Affairs. The 2004 government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero 1987, pp.129-39). Relegation to the bottom of electoral lists not only deprives was the first ever gender parity government in Spain, with 50 per cent female women candidates of the possibility of gaining political office but it also excludes ministres (eight out of 16) and the first to have a female first Vice-Prime Minister them from public view. Candidates who head the lists usually lead the electoral (Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega). As a consequence, since the first democratic campaign in Spain. This is an excellent chance for candidates to gain experience as government of 1977 to the 2004 government, women's presence in governmental political leaders. Most female candidates cannot avail themselves of this ministries went from 0 to 50 per cent. opportunity (Garcia de Le6n, 1991, p.39). Issues of representation have preoccupied the Spanish feminist movement for An early study of women's political opportunities indicated that the proportion many years. The first democratic elections in four decades, in June 1977, raised of women among the candidates with serious chances of winning a seat was higher expectations among many advocates of women's rights. Therefore, on 13 July in the leftist than in the conservative parties, and higher for parties with a small or 1977, at the first meeting of the Congress of Deputies, women's rights activists no presence in the chamber (Barbadillo, Juste and Ramirez, 1990). Bearing in mind presented their manifesto in support of the 25 women elected to parliament, the time that has elapsed since these findings were first published, it would be denounced the fact that there were so few elected, and asked the three feminist interesting to test the conclusions of this study again. Echoing the experience of MPs to push the feminist agenda in Congress (Escario, Alberdi and L6pez-Acotto,

I1 194 Sharing Power Spain 195 other European countries, it seems that the number of female candidates of any empirically proven) that women and men become members of political parties for modem Spanish political party increases when the probability of obtaining votes different reasons. According to the literature, women tend to participate in politics diminishes. All parties now draw attention to the presence of women on their lists in order to help others or change and improve society. Relatively few women in an attempt to win votes (IMOP-Encuestas, 1999, pp.99-100). However, male engage in political party work in order to achieve prestige, professional upward politicians promote male candidates when the party has a real possibility of mobility and economic privileges. These are precisely the reasons that induce some winning a seat in Parliament (Garcia de Leon, 1996, pp.171-2). It has also been men to be politically active and to try to reach leadership positions in political argued (but has not been empirically tested) that other things being equal, women parties (Vazquez, 1989, p.16). Again, it is imperative to test these propositions have a higher probability of being elected as legislators in the larger constituencies present in the literature. (Garcia de Leon, 1996, p.173). Later, we will put this hypothesis to the test. In sum, most academic works on gender and the legislative elite show that on the The different degree of trust given to female and male candidates by voters has whole women are discriminated against while trying to reach parliamentary office. also been identified as an obstacle to a higher presence of women among the According to these studies, the forms of discrimination are common to Spain and political class. Uriarte (1997, p.69) supports this argument referring to the results most advanced industrial countries. This evidence supports the demand-side of a survey undertaken in 1986 by the Women's Institute showing that 47 percent explanation for the low presence of women in Parliament. However, recent studies of men and 40 percent of women trust male candidates more than female also provide some evidence that corroborates the supply-side thesis. In contrast candidates.2 This general indication of preference for male candidates is known to with the topic of gender and legislative recruitment, we know virtually nothing party leaders who in turn reflect this preference when composing their electoral about the impact of Spanish female legislators. This is an area where research is lists. badly needed. The organisational culture of the parties also militates against a high presence of women in the legislative elite. In their investigations of party cultures Gaitan and Caceres (1995) studied the image of women in the documents of the main political Demand and Supply parties produced between 1977 and 1994. Women are presented in these documents as individuals who participate, mainly in the economic and social One of the main goals of this chapter is to explore some of the theoretical spheres. This is a very positive image, given the fact that the Francoist regime hypotheses proposed by other scholars, and reviewed previously, for the Spanish (1939-75) actively opposed the advancement of women's rights and status. case. We will thus approach the analyses of women's under-representation in the However, the willingness of political parties to present positive images of women Spanish lower chamber by distinguishing between demand-side and supply-side does not extend to political images. To the extent that the cultures of political explanations. First, we test two demand-side hypotheses: a) that parties, as gate- parties are reflected in their documents, these are organisations whose political keepers to elected office, discriminate against women; and b) that some world is male. institutional characteristics, such as the small size of electoral districts, make it The impact of party quotas on the representation of women has been successful. difficult for women to access the parliamentary elite. Second, we examine the The Spanish case shows that when a quota is introduced in a party, the number of supply-centred thesis that women's lower levels of education obstruct women's female legislators from that party elected in the subsequent election increases presence in the legislative elite. significantly. Moreover, although only left-wing parties have introduced quotas, their effect tends to spread to other parties who are pressured by their Demand achievements. Conservative parties (which have no quota) increased the number of their female representatives after the introduction of the quota in left-wing parties One way to explore the adequacy of the proposition that parties act as gatekeepers (Uriarte, 1997, pp.69-70). to political office and discriminate against women for the Spanish case is to Supply-side explanations of the weak presence of women among the legislative compare the levels of female membership in political parties and compare it with elite have also been made but are more recent and scarce than demand-side (i) the proportion of women in electoral lists, (ii) the proportion of women in approaches. For example, even if the level of education is in general the same for electoral lists in 'safe' positions, and (iii) the proportion of women actually elected young women and men, this is not the case for the population of all ages. The as MPs. The levels of female membership of political parties should be considered difference in education is an impediment for women to run for parliamentary as the starting point of the analysis because it is mainly from party members that office, since this political activity usually correlates with a high level of education. Spanish parties recruit their candidates. Any arguments about parties Additionally, the supply of women decision-makers is seriously hampered by the discriminating against women should, therefore, take into account the membership difficulties of combining women's professional and family responsibilities (Uriarte baseline within each party. We will do this by limiting the analysis to the general 1999; Uriarte and Ruiz 1998 and 1999). elections of 2000 and for the main five parties represented in the Congress of Also from the supply-side perspective it has been hypothesised (but not 196 Sharing Power Spain 197

Deputies. The results shown in Table 14.2 are revealing. When we take female matter much for women's access to the lower house. Around 30 per cent of elected party membership as the starting point, it would seem that none of the main MPs are women regardless of the size of the electoral district. True, women are Spanish parties substantially exclude or discriminate against women when it comes slightly under-represented in smaller districts, but this difference is clearly not to the composition of electoral lists. On the contrary, we can see that PSOE and ID substantial. even favour them by granting women an over-representation in their lists when compared to the proportion of female members. However, the crucial aspect is not so much whether women are included in the lists but whether they make it to Table 14.3 Male and female MPs by constituency size, 2000 positions where they are likely to be elected. This provides the real test with regard Constituency Total Men Women to discrimination against women members. Size Seats N % N % 1-5 seats 116 84 72 32 28 6-8 seats 74 50 68 24 32 Table 14.2 Women's access to the Spanish parliament, 2000 9-34 seats 160 108 68 52 32 Party % women % women % women in % women Total 350 242 69 108 31 Party members on lists safe positions MPs PP 32.7 34.0 20.5 25.2 Source: PSOE 28.0 46.9 37.6 36.8 Authors' calculations from www.congreso.es ID 29.0 44.6 31.6 25.0 CiU 29.4 28.3 18.8 13.3 On closer scrutiny we find that women MPs are elected in slightly larger districts PNV 34.5 33.3 20.0 28.6 of around 12.5 seats than men, who are elected in constituencies of around 11.6 seats, but the difference in the average constituency size where male and female MPs are elected is not statistically significant. Hence, our data do not support the Source: Instituto de la Mujer, 2001; authors' calculations from B.O.E 15/02/2000 and from conclusion that smaller electoral districts are a fundamental barrier for gender data held at www.congreso.es; party membership data from 2001. 'Safe' seats are defined as equality in political representation. those seats won or held by parties in the 1996 general election. Supply In this case, the Socialists still appear to grant more favourable treatment to women than they might expect from their proportional party membership. The left-wing ID As we have seen in previous sections, an increasingly common argument is that allocates more women in safe list positions in proportion to their party women are still under-represented in political offices partly because they lack the membership, while the centre-right parties PP, Ciu and PNV clearly under- resources needed to fully participate in political activities. In this sense, represent them. These latter parties seem to discriminate against their female party explanations which highlight the importance of resources argue that women are members when it comes to deciding rank-order in the electoral lists. Centre-right less able to supply what is needed to compete for and gain elective office. women party members have a harder time getting through to the positions which Resources can be of very different types: time, money, and skills. 0 aspect of skill will make them likely to be elected. The main outcome of this candidate selection is measured by educational attainment. It was traditionally argued that women's process is that only the PSOE has been able to get a higher percentage of elected lower levels of education acted a barrier to their access to elective positions, since female MPs than their female party membership would push them to do, reaching elective offices require skills that are usually enhanced by education. For this one-third of women MPs in their parliamentary group. The electoral setback of ID proposition to be valid two conditions must be present: a) that women are less has prevented it from guaranteeing a fair representation of its women party educated than men, and b) that education acts as a relevant factor in the selection members among its MPs. And, [mally, the three main centre-right parties, process of candidates. especially Ciu, are clearly not giving their female party members equal treatment Table 14.4 shows educational levels of men and women extracted from a with men. national sample in 2002. These results give a somewhat nuanced picture of Constituency size in Spanish general elections range from the single-member educational differences between men and women. On the one hand, women are districts of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla to the large multimember more likely than men to have only basic educational qualifications, but on the other districts of (34 MPs) and Barcelona (31 MPs). We examined the effect of hand men and women are nowadays equal when it comes to university degrees and district magnitude on women's representation in Spain by assessing if smaller education. Given that more than 70 per cent of MPs have some kind of university electoral districts disadvantaged women in their efforts to gain a seat in parliament. education, we are able to argue that women are not really disadvantaged in terms The results shown in Table 14.3 would suggest that constituency size does not 198 Sharing Power Spain 199 of the educational skills required for parliamentary office (i.e. university occupational activity. The average age of female deputies, at 45.9 years, is five qualifications). Thus, today, Spanish women have the educational skills necessary years younger than that of male deputies. Male and female MPs show similar levels to gain elective positions, at least as much as Spanish men do. of educational attainment, although women MPs are slightly more likely to have completed primary education only, and less likely to hold a doctoral degree. It is interesting to note, however, that 72 per cent of female and male deputies hold Table 14.4 Education and gender in Spain (%) university degrees. There is also a similarity in the occupational profiles of female and male MPs. About one in three male and female MPs are drawn from middle- Education Total Men Women management, teaching and lecturing occupations. Another one-fifth (21.5 per cent) Primary orless 51.7 46.7 56.6 have backgrounds in the traditional professions (for example, lawyers, architects, Second level 29.7 33.6 26.0 medical practitioners), where men dominate, and administrative and service work Third level 18.0 18.9 17.0 which is more prevalent among female MPs. A very similar proportion of female DKlNA 0.6 0.8 0.4 (16 per cent) and male (17 per cent) MPs had been politicians or trade union Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 representatives before entering parliament. In contrast, differences in the marital status of female and male MPs are marked. Source: Survey no. 2450 (eIS, 2002) Marital status is, as already noted in the literature, a differential trait of male and female MPs. Women are much more likely than men to be single (26 per cent), Let us turn now to the second condition: does education act as a relevant factor in whereas Spanish male MPs are almost invariably married (80 per cent). Therefore, the selection process of candidates? Answering this question is much more difficult it seems that indeed the attention given by women to political and elective office- than it was for the first condition. It is logical to expect that the acquisition of holding is not compatible with family obligations in Spain. educational skills will have some kind of impact on these processes, however it is So far we have seen that female MPs do not greatly differ from their male not possible to quantify with a degree of certainty to what extent it does. Hence, we counterparts in their socio-economic characteristics. They differed more in terms will use an indirect method to check if this is the case. Also from survey data it is of marital status and age. However, the most recent international literature argues possible to get some kind of estimate of the educational differences between male that while women MPs are becoming more similar to men in their socio-economic and female party members. The 2002 survey revealed that women party members characteristics, they are still different with regard to their policy orientation and actually possess higher qualifications than their male counterparts. True, as we preferences (Berkman and O'Connor, 1993; Tamerius, 1995; Childs, 2001; already know, women are less likely to become party members than men. Dodson, 2001; Swers, 2001). A related but different proposition states that not only However, those women who eventually become party members are more likely their policy activities might be different but that when we get a more nuanced than male party members to have obtained university degrees. Therefore, if picture of women's parliamentary role we can still fmd important gender educational attainment was a determining factor in being selected as a candidate inequalities. We will see how far these observations can be applied to the Spanish for parliament, women should be on electoral lists in a higher proportion to their case on the basis of data collected from all 350 Spanish MPs serving in the 2000- membership. As we have seen in previous sections, this is not the case in Spain. 04 parliamentary term. Our data, thus suggest that a restricted access to resources, at least educational, is To analyse the potential existence of different policy priorities or preferences of not what is preventing women from gaining access to elective offices in Spain. Nor women and men MPs, we examined the membership of female and male MPs to 3 are demand-side explanations particularly illuminating. Therefore we must parliamentary commissions related to social policies. A sharp difference was conclude that other extraneous factors, such as political culture and traditional found between the proportion of women (78 per cent) and men (46 per cent) MPs attitudes militate against women's selection as candidates. who belong to parliamentary commissions related to social policies. The difference is so pronounced that it may indicate the existence of different preferences of female and male MPs regarding membership to specific types of commissions. It Do Male MPs Differ from Female MPs? could also be hypothesised that women are welcome in these commissions but not in others. However, more research is needed to clarify the causes ofthis difference. We now analyse the socio-economic characteristics and parliamentary work of We have also analysed the access of women and men MPs to high parliamentary female and male deputies in order to assess the similarities and differences between positions. In Table 14.5 we first show gender differences in membership of the political women and men in Spain. All data in this section refer to MPs in the main governing bodies of the Congress of Deputies: the Spokespeople Council Congress of Deputies for the 2000-2004 legislative term. There are few differences (Junta de Portavoces), the Permanent Council (Diputaci6n Permanente) and the between this cohort of male and female MPs in age, education levels and Presidency (Mesa del Congreso).4 The first two governing bodies are more important than the third one. As we can see, male MPs are over-represented in the 200 Sharing Power Spain 201 more powerful governing bodies of the lower house, while female MPs are over- becoming a spokesperson between male and female MPs: 26.6 per cent of men represented in the Presidency, the least relevant of all three. Almost eight per cent of MPs but only 12 per cent of women MPs are spokespeople in type 1 committees. men MPs but only about three per cent of female MPs belong to the Spokespeople However, once we go down the ladder of 'relevance' of the position within each Council. This difference would indicate that political elites have noticed that it is category, gender differences disappear or reverse. An even more gendered pattern important in terms of the public image of parliament that women are represented in appears when we consider type 2 committees. In this case, the reduced saliency of the governing bodies of the chamber, but that power structures are still heavily skewed the issues dealt with in these groups have as the main consequence the clear over- in favour of men. Women are very welcome in symbolic positions, but when it gets to representation of women in some positions. sharing real power things are somewhat different.

Table 14.6 Roles in Spanish parliamentary committees by gender Table 14.5 Membership of the main governing bodies of the Congreso by gender Position Type 1 Committees Type 2 Committees Male MPs Female MPs Male MPs Female MPs Governing bodies Male MPs Female MPs Presidency • 1.9** 1.2 1.9 n.s Spokespeople Council 7.4 2.8* Vicepresidency 10.3 11.1 n.s 2.1 _ Permanent Council 31.4 21.3** Secretary 11.2 12.0 n.s 0.8 1.9 n.s Presidency 1.2 5.6*** Spokesperson .. 12.0*** 3.3 Adjoint spokesperson 13.6 1.7 Member 81.4 13.2 Source: Own calculation from data in www.congreso.es. Percentages are column Attendant 20.7 2.5 percentages and they do not add to 100 because not all MPs are members of these governing bodies. *** Difference statistically significant for p ::;0.01. ** Difference statistically significant for p ::;0.05. * Difference statistically significant for p ::;0.1 Source: Authors' calculations from data in www.congreso.es. Percentages do not add up to 100 because categories are not mutually exclusive. *** Difference statistically significant A similar picture is portrayed by the analysis of the roles and positions gained by for p ::;0.Q1. **Difference statistically significant for p ::;0.05. *Difference statistically female MPs in some parliamentary commissions. In Table 14.6 we highlight significant for p ::;0.1 n.s statistically not significant for p::;O.I. A grey shading is given to the gender differences for different positions within parliamentary committees group (men or women) over-represented in each category if a statistically or substantively according to a distinction between two types of committees and the degree of significant difference is present. relevance of the position. First, we distinguish between two types of committees: type 1 includes the most 'relevant' committees; that is, those that deal with core These results clearly support a less naive vision of gender inequalities in issues or that assume legislative functions. These include the permanent legislative parliamentary representation in Spain. Women are certainly gaining access to committees and the committees for the National Audit Office and the European parliament, they are certainly similar to men in their social traits, they have Union. Type 2 committees are those without legislative functions and those related improved their position within power structures, but nonetheless they are still far to non-core issues including the joint committees with the Senate for women's from sharing power with men on an equal basis. Not even those women that make rights, the study of drug issues and for relations with the Ombudsman. On the other it through to parliament are given the same opportunities and responsibilities given hand, we can distinguish between three broad types of positions within to men. Women MPs occupy less politically relevant positions. committees: directive positions, leadership positions, and plain membership. These three can also be graded within them as we do in Table 14.6. If we take into account these two dimensions of power structures related to Conclusion committee involvement we can distinguish a clearly gendered pattern. The most powerful positions in the more relevant committees (type 1 committees) are mostly The proportion of women among members of the Spanish Congress of Deputies filled in by men. Proof of this phenomenon is the presidency role in type 1 has increased steadily since the transition to democracy to reach the current level committees: men are almost three and one half times more likely to hold one of of36 percent. Nevertheless, the presence of women in the legislative elite is lower these positions than women are: almost seven per cent of the male MPs preside a than their proportion of the general population. In this chapter we have shown that type 1 committee while the percentage of female MPs in such a position is reduced the socio-economic characteristics of women and men deputies are similar, with to under two per cent. But there is also quite a substantive gap in the likelihood of the exception of their marital status and (to a lesser extent) level of education. Women deputies are also slightly younger than men deputies. 202 Sharing Power Spain 203 Differences between female and male deputies are very marked concerning their beyond the control of the feminist movement. Therefore the future of women's parliamentary work: the percentage of women as members of parliamentary political representation in Spain remains unpredictable. committees on social issues is higher than that of men. This difference may reflect a dissimilarity in the political preferences of women and men MPs, but it may also be the result of discrimination against women, who are relegated to these types of Notes committees. Women are under-represented among those deputies who occupy positions in governing bodies of the lower chamber and among those that hold I Electoral laws governing regional elections in Castilla-La Mancha and the Balearic Islands leading positions in the most important parliamentary committees. Men MPs are were ame~ded in June 20~2 to introduce a compulsory 50 per cent gender parity in party over-represented in the most important governing bodies of the Congress of elect~ral. hst~. How~ver, I~ .September 2002, the national government challenged the CO~stitutional~ty of this proVIsIOn. Both laws were temporarily suspended and the May 2003 Deputies (the Spokespeople Council and the Permanent Council). Male MPs ~eglOnal elections were conducted under the fonner regulations. significantly outnumber women MPs who occupy the main leading positions The Eurob~ometer of the 1994 European elections (study 41.1) showed that about 38 per (president and spokesperson) of the most important parliamentary committees - the ~ent of SP~IS~ voters. thou~t that .the number of female candidates in party lists was very permanent legislative committees and the committees for the National Audit Office ~~ortant m. mfluencmg theIr voting decisions. Only citizens of fonner East Gennany and for the European Union. mdicated a ~I~er le~~l of support, suggesting that Spanish voters are highly sensitive to fender equaho/ m pohtl~al ~epresentatio.n. In What are the causes of women's under-representation in the legislative elite? The followmg CO~SSIO~ were Viewed as dealing with social policies: Education; this chapter we have tested demand-side and supply-side explanations. The Culture ~d Sports; SOCial Pohcy and Employment; Health and Consumption; International proportion of women in safe positions in electoral lists for the 2000 general Coope~atlOn ~o Development; Joint Comittee with the Senate for Women's Rights; Joint election was lower than that of female members of the party in the PP, the Ciu and COmmIttee With the Senate for the Study of Drug Issues. the PNV, equal in the rn, and higher in the PSOE. Hence, the demand-side thesis "we analysed full and substitute members of the Spokespeople Council. Regarding the that affirms that parties discriminate against women while composing their Pe~ent C?uncil we studied full members, deputy members and MPs with any directive role m the unit. electoral lists is partly confirmed in the case of the three centre-right parties, but not so for the two left-wing parties. To study whether this discrimination is due to the ideology of parties is beyond the scope of this chapter but may be a matter for future research. In addition, this chapter has tested (and rejected) another demand- side thesis: that small electoral districts are detrimental to women's presence among the legislative elite. Around 36 per cent of members of the Congress of Deputies are women regardless of the size of the electoral district where they were elected. The supply-side hypotheses that women as a group have lower human capital, expressed in lower educational levels, and that this difference in education negatively affects women's chances to become MPs have also been tested and rejected in the Spanish case. Studying the Spanish popUlation as a whole, we see that a very similar percentage of women and men have university degrees, while the proportion of individuals with university degrees is higher among female members of political parties than among male members. The results of this chapter indicate the need to continue the study of women's under-representation in parliament in particular and in politics in general. The chapter highlights the need for further investigations into party selection practices, parliamentary culture and the legislative input of men and women in order to add to our understanding of women's contribution to the building of Spain's democracy. Efforts to increase the presence of women in the Spanish political elite are one of the goals of Spanish feminist groups and it is explicitly mentioned in the electoral platforms of the left-wing parties. In this regard, this issue will be present to some extent in future political debates. However, the possibilities for the advancement of democratic parity will depend on multiple factors, some of them l I